Motorcycle Madness

Russell Street

Russell Street

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This thread is for discussion of all motorized two-wheeled vehicles to include, but not limited to, bicycles, mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles.

I ride a shitty old 500cc twin cylinder motorcycle and recently grabbed my brother's old mountain bike and am taking up bicycling again.
 
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Russell Street said:
This thread is for discussion of all two-wheeled vehicles to include, but not limited to, bicycles, mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles.

I ride a shitty old 500cc twin cylinder motorcycle and recently grabbed my brother's old mountain bike and am taking up bicycling again.
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I think you might pull in a more diverse conversation splitting this up into motorized vs. non-motorized pursuits. Both forums have fairly active threads on both topics.
 
Great, when somebody replies, we'll know which thread this will be and I'll create the other
 
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Okay Grand Potentate Grand Potentate , this is the motorbikey thread now. Please adjust title so the pedal crew doesn't get confused. Their thread, which I'll be in too, coming soon.

Yeah, I'm on a Kwak too. Is that a shaft drive? Friggin bugs are out in force. Had to open the visor while pulling away from a stop to blow all the gnats that had flown in while stationary.
 
Back in the Brando days, a 650cc machine was huge. I've topped out at a 700cc inline four. That was my last bike, a 1985 CB700SC, the Nighthawk S. It had hydraulic valves, shaft drive, oil in the frame, a digital gear indicator. All kinds of good stuff. Very smooth bike.

Back when I had a 50 mile a day commute, I was able to throw 10k or more on annually, but no more.
 
Bitch, well being only 2-3% of the population, I guess we're the only two riders on here. I had an alternator connector melt itself shut. I was completely unable to disassemble the actual alternator as the bike kept rolling when anywhere near enough torque was applied...
The one bike I bought new ate clutch safety switches every year or so, and road bumps took out the magnetic speed sensor in the hub twice.
Effin bikes, despite being maintenance heavy compared to cars, just have so much less crap to go wrong.
 
Just to be clear, this is not a motorcycle. Motorcycles have two wheels unless some side-car monstrosity is added.
putin1.jpg

Sorry Vladimir, that is a tricycle.
 
I always hope that trike riders are dogged riders with medical conditions and not weenies afraid to balance a bike. The trade-offs seem very vast.
 
Saw some guy out the window today that didn't seem to know what he was doing. He stood aside the bike and lifted the side stand before mounting. I must assume that some side stand safety switch made this awkardness necessary.
 
I miss riding. Had an unfortunate event that ended my riding days for ever.....got married.
 
No, it was a little scrambler looking thing that I embarrassingly could not identify. It had wire wheels, what appeared to be a blacked out v-twin, a smaller round headlight and it looked like a drum brake in the back.

Thruth, I'd get on a stump about loved ones keeping you from something else you love, except that I've had a crash that left some permanent changes so I can't be too cocky. Despite my mocking of three-wheelers, those Can-Am Spdyer things do seem to appease worrywart women sufficiently.
 
thruth said:
I hear you. I could never ride one of Can-Am's.
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When I was down at Deal's Gap, there was some Spyder rally. I was fortunate enough not to get stuck behind one, but my friend said they were slow as hell and could not stay between the lines in curves.
The rider looks rather retarded on the backwards tricycle, which I understand to be a snow machine, aka snowmobile, with wheels.
This review seems right to me.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/03/capsule-review-can-am-spyder/
 
This morning I had a nice big bug splat into my visor. It's been too long. I got very nostalgic thinking of all the insects that have met their Kamikaze demise striking some part of my man/machine in motion.
 
So my beloved Lee Parks DeerTour gloves have a rapidly growing hole in them.
I think I know the answer, but this
lpd_deertours_uniongaragenyc_1_1.jpg

or this?
421_3c.jpg
 
Motherfucker. Whoa. Will make you sell your bike.

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I rode my friend's BMW GS 11?0 yesterday. Big wide handlebars, a floaty but capable suspension, and a torquey motor. It had a very numb, filtered feel to it, which is dull but relaxing.
 
Bikes hate starting when it's below freezing. I had a frozen ignition lock, and then I had to jump it. Some guy across the way had his old Beemer, and he seems to be an every single day rider.
 
Zombie Wednesday revival as it was finally warm and clear enough to ride today. Any other riders here now that Mr. Rustler died?
 
Probably meant for the bicycle thread, but the perilous instability of two wheelers still applies. I have to imagine that the audience member risked injury himself there.
 
I used to ride a Triump Daytona 675 and a Husqvarna 450 SMR. I much preferred the supermoto bike over the sports bike, much more fun for city driving. Had it fully customised as well, full Akra exhaust, race mapping, slipper clutch, slick tires, etc. Sold them about two years ago. Definitely miss them.

Now that I have moved to London I've been thinking about buying a KTM 690 SMC, but driving in London during rush hour seems too dangerous.
 
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Russell Street said:
Is it the more upright ergonomics, the less peaky engine output, or a more compliant suspension that was preferred?
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None of those, except maybe the suspension. The 675 three cylinder I had wasn't peaky at all, and I didn't mind the aggressive seating position.

It's the fact that it doesn't do 70 miles an hour in 2nd gear. With a sports bike you can never really go full throttle and enjoy all it has to offer, and when you do, you know shouldn't be doing it. Before you know it you're going 120 mph+ on single lane back roads, and that isn't really safe.

Moreover, if you crash it it'll be incredibly epxensive to fix, and you have to worry about people keying it and thieves stealing it.

If I lay down my supermoto I pick it up and carry on. Replacing a panel is about $30, and you're highly unlikely to break anything else.

With a supermoto, your top speed is around 120 mph, and it takes a while to get there. You can go full throttle in any gear you want, enjoy everything it has to offer.

Most importantly though, due to the frame geometry and weight (mine weighed 95kg), you can really throw it around corners. Shift back a gear or two-three and you can actually slide around corners. Try doing that on a sports bike. You can also wheelie in every gear, and even shift while doing wheelies.

Due to the suspension you can hop on sidewalks, drive down stairs, etc. Very easy to get around in town. I drove mine with slicks and was never worry about crashing due to wet leaves or gravel being on the road. If the back breaks out you can easily bring it back in line.

The exhaust note of a one cylinder is something special as well. Very deep and aggressive. Having flames come out of your exhaust on downshifts is pretty fun as well.

In short, it's just 100x more fun to ride a supermoto in town and small back roads. The one thing it can't really do is highway driving. It's quite uncomfortable, but I did that maybe once a year. My Husqvarna'd engine also needed to be fully revised every 3000 miles, and the tank needed to be refuelled every 50 miles. Thats mainly due to getting 60hp out of a 450cc racing engine though.

The new KTM 690 SMC-R has a bigger engine and a slightly bigger tank, making it a bit less hardcore. It's probbaly a bit less fun to ride due to the higher weight, but it has more normal service intervals in return.
 
I'm all for light and small with a pleasantly agile motor that can be made to feel like it's being worked at non-kamikaze speeds. I prefer naked bikes for both dropability and maintenance.
I'd heard that KTM, in typical Euro fashion, was fussy with needing adjustment and maintenance. I rather like Jap bikes that can just be neglected and take it with aplomb.
 
Russell Street said:
I'm all for light and small with a pleasantly agile motor that can be made to feel like it's being worked at non-kamikaze speeds. I prefer naked bikes for both dropability and maintenance.
I'd heard that KTM, in typical Euro fashion, was fussy with needing adjustment and maintenance. I rather like Jap bikes that can just be neglected and take it with aplomb.
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Not anymore, they have improved massively. Besides, it can't be worse than a complete engine revision every 3000 miles.

A naked bike won't behave any differently from a sports bike though. It'll still weigh just as much, and it doesn't have the frame geometry and suspension that make it so agile.

Anyway, it's still very fun to ride sports bikes, and in an ideal world you'd have both. What kind of bike do you ride?
 
Yeah, but too lightweight and nimble makes for a hassle on the highway. The most modern bike I've owned was a 2001 model, so I'm not really up on current capabilities.
I just have a beater Kawasaki EX500, a first generation Ninja 500, that won't die.
 
Oh, that's more like it. They depreciate solely because some newer model is a bit faster and has some new feature.
 
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